This invention relates to a support pole with a pivoting and locking handrail for assisting disabled or elderly persons to move from one position to another independent of any assistance.
Elderly and disabled persons often require support surfaces such as hand rails to pull themselves up from a chair or wheelchair, support their weight while walking, lower themselves safely onto a toilet or bed, or most importantly, to have a secure grip surface on which to support themselves in the event of a sudden loss of balance, and thereby preventing a fall, which in more senior individuals, can result in a serious injury such as a broken hip.
Prior art devices for these purposes include wall mounted grab bars, mobile wheeled walkers, and floor to ceiling poles. However, each of these devices has its disadvantages: Wall mounted grab bars cannot provide support in the middle of a room, mobile wheeled walkers can slip, and occupy substantial space making them awkward to use in smaller areas of the home such as bathrooms. Ceiling to floor poles provide only a vertical surface, which by nature is difficult for a person's hand to grip with sufficient strength to bear a vertical load.
Typically, disabled and elderly persons require support during transfers from one position to another, such as from a bed to a wheelchair, wheelchair to a toilet seat, or wheelchair to a favourite sitting chair. The ease and safety of these transfers are limited by the design features of the support device that is used. i.e. a floor to ceiling pole provides the person with the ability to only perform a pivot transfer adjacent to the pole.
Clearly, no ideal support device exists in the prior art to cover the optimal requirements of: a device that provides support over the typical 3 to 5 foot range of travel during transfers, a device that provides a horizontal surface for easy grip by weak hands, a device which moves and locks at safe small increments, while minimizing occupied space.